The year 1906 produced a small crop in Madeira. However a few Malmseys
were very good to great.There actually are several types of
Malvazia(or Malvasia or Malmsey). The various types usually are
pressed together. Michael Broadbent tasted Leacock's 1906 Malvazia
Vintage Madeira in 1980 and rated it 5 star out of 5 star.

I bought 3 bottles of this wine at auction many years ago, and this is
the first I have opened. The bottle had a good fill and the cork was
sound, although it required considerable care to remove. The color is
amber with hints of old gold, and there is faint green around the rim.
The wine is quite bright with sediment sticking to the bottle. The
intensity of both smell and taste is beyond anything I have
experienced in a wine before in a good way. I have smelled a badly
oxidized wine that was more intense in a stinky way, but I did not
taste it since it smelled so foul. The bouquet brings to mind rich
toast, dark dry mixed fruits that might include dates, raisins, black
plums etc. Also there is something much like caramel. This follows
through in the taste. When you first sip the wine, there is a great
rush of fruit and sweetness. Then very intense acidity kicks in which
balances the great richness of the wine. Then the acid slowly fades
away, and one is left with an extremely long aftertaste. The wine
makes me salivate, which likely is a good thing when you are drinking
it with something very rich and a bit on the dry side. You need not
fret about what kind of glass to use with this wine. The intensity of
both bouquet and taste is so extreme that it likely would not lose
much if you served it in a saucer!

I just received a giant chest of Nurnberger Lebkuchen. There are 10
kinds of Lebkuchen. Many contain dry fruit. Some have white or
chocolate icing and some also have nuts. These are all a very old type
of German gingerbread made for the Holidays for many centuries. The
ginger is fairly mild, and the mentioned Madeira is a very good match
for most of the Liebkuchen. The chest also contained 3 other types of
cookies and a Christ-Stollen. I have the Madeira in my wine machine
under pre-purified nitrogen, and it should keep well for many weeks if
I do not drink it all before then. Most of the Liebkuchen keep fairly
long, but I decided to start eating them at once, since there are
nearly 8 pounds. Fortunately many freeze quite well if you seal them
in the proper wrap. I also will be tasting the wine with Demel's
Sacher torte and the Demel torte. These also freeze well if properly
sealed, and I have a few slices of each left in the freezer.

cwdjrxyz > wrote:

> I have the Madeira in my wine machine under pre-purified
> nitrogen, and it should keep well for many weeks if I do
> not drink it all before then.

No need to. Vintage Madeira is practically indestructible and can
be kept open for years, even decades.

Three years ago, after a trip to Madeira, I visited importers here
in Vienna to taste some of their wines (as addition to write up an
article). At one place I had the last sip from a bottle of Oliveiras
1795 Terrantez that was opened 12 years before, when the importer
just had started his business. Absolutely terrific it was!

M., commemorating this event right now with a sip of Barbeito
Malvasia Special Reserve 20 Years Old, open since three years,
and tasting exactly the same as on day one.